


wounds heal with time (but never disappear)

by ace_andafraid



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Jet (Avatar) Becomes Zuko's Big Brother, Jet is 15, Jet is cool, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), have i mentioned, i dont think i could write jet as an asshole, oh yeah, takes place a year before the gaang show up, tell if i need more tags, that ozai is a horrible father, zuko is 12, zuko was banished at 10
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23399848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ace_andafraid/pseuds/ace_andafraid
Summary: Zuko never wanted these kids to take him in. He never wanted to feel like he was finally accepted into a family, no matter how dysfunctional it is.But they did, and he does. That's not treason, is it?
Relationships: Freedom Fighters & Zuko (Avatar), Jet & Longshot & Smellerbee & Zuko, Jet & Longshot (Avatar), Jet & Smellerbee (Avatar), Jet & Zuko (Avatar), Longshot & Zuko (Avatar), Smellerbee & Zuko
Comments: 10
Kudos: 416
Collections: avatar tingz





	wounds heal with time (but never disappear)

**Author's Note:**

> i should be doing my geometry but who cares. im fifteen years late to this fandom, but to be fair, i think i was like, 8 months when it came out. so.
> 
> i thought this was a cool idea, and i love zuko and jet sibling ship, so i wrote some. tell me what u think
> 
> mistakes are all mine, and i think this was pretty short for what i can write, so if you guys like this, ill def make these longer.
> 
> if u dont like it, too bad cause im still gonna write it

Run, run, run run run _runrunrun_ \--

All he could hear were heavy breaths. Were they his? Was he still being chased? He couldn’t stop to check. If he stopped, he was sure his legs would give out.

So, he kept running. And running. And running. He continued to run until he was sure his feet were nothing but bloodied stumps now. Eventually, he deemed himself far enough inside the forest to have lost any lingering pursuers. He slowed to a jog and just about collapsed onto the leaf covered ground. 

_Agni_ his legs hurt. He wasn’t sure when he last ran like that. The people that chased him weren’t _that_ scary...well, a bunch of earthbenders who had almost gotten him in a rock cell. 

_I suppose that’s scary enough._

Zuko let out a deep breath, counting carefully as he inhaled and exhaled. 

In, hold, hold, hold, out. In, hold, hold, hold, out.

He repeated this until his breathing was back under control. Each breath he made was hotter than the last. Each breath became lighter and lighter until it seemed as if he was breathing a yellow glow.

He quickly abandoned the breathing and tried to stand up. It took a little work, but he made it up and quickly leaned on a nearby tree. Glancing a look up, Zuko was startled. Wow, he’d really run far. He couldn’t see the sky through all these trees. 

After a minute or so, he deemed himself well enough to walk. So, he walked. He walked deeper into the forest, because he knew damn well that he was lost., and if he walked back the way he came, who’s to say that the earthbenders weren’t still right there?

He walked until the sun went down and the forest became dark and eerie. He walked until his own footsteps were the only sound he could hear. He walked and walked and walked and walked and--

Was that fruit? Inspecting it closer, he was delighted to find it was fruit _and_ nuts. He glanced around, praying to Agni there weren’t any animals around. They would try to steal his food, and he wasn’t in the mood to kill today. Looking around once more, he snuck forward to the food. 

He didn’t notice the other piles of berries and nuts around him. He didn’t notice the innocuous looking leaves the food was piled on. He _definitely_ didn’t notice the thin rope leading away from the berries. All he saw was the food, and all he noticed was his stomach growling.

He took another step towards the food, and no sooner than he did was he swept into the air. Metal seemed to encase his entire body, and he was struggling. His arms were trapped against his stomach, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t even begin to _bend_ , what was happening?

He struggled for what felt like forever, trying to kick his trapped legs out but only succeeding in swinging the airborne trap.

Zuko felt nauseous and cramped and cold. A clear voice called out.

“Yea, we got--woah! What the hell are you doing in there kid?!” 

He looked around for the voice. When he couldn’t see anyone he bean struggling once more. 

“Dude, calm down! We’ll get you down, but we can’t even open the trap if you don’t stop moving!”

Zuko took deep deliberate breaths, slowing his struggling down to the every now and then twitch. He heard a sigh and felt himself being pulled forward. He looked up as far as he could and saw...another kid?

What were these kids--and he could see the second person standing like a shadow over the first--doing out in the forest? In the dark?

“What’re you doing out here? Why’re you in our forest?” He heard the sound of metal creaking. A weight lifted off of his leg and he jumped out of the trap. He landed unsteadily on a thick tree branch in front of him, the two other kids thrown to the side at his hasty retreat.

Zuko took a few deep breaths, trying to center himself. Woah, he felt lightheaded.

“Longshot, do you think you could restore the trap?” A quiet sound, nothing more than a tap. “Sweet. Hey, are you alright?” The voice was directed at him now. Zuko turned to the voice and stared. 

“Are you mute or somethin’?” the kid asked. He frowned and stared for a moment longer before he answered. 

“I’m not mute. And I’m fine.”

“You sure look ‘fine’,” the voice snarked at him. Zuko glared at them, finally able to breathe normally. 

“I am,” he snarks right back, crossing his arms over his chest. “And who says it’s _your_ forest? Forests don’t belong to anyone.”

The kid scoffed and stood up, brushing themselves off. “Yeah, whatever. It’s our forest cause we said it is.” 

“Wait, our? _We?_ Who else is there?” Zuko asks, his arms falling to his sides. He doesn’t immediately dismiss the obvious threat in front of him, but he does relax a bit. He has his dao and he knows that he could--probably--take her in a fight.

The kid lets out a whistle, short and terse, and the other kid--Longshot? He wasn’t exactly listening--appeared next to the first kid. He takes a wary step back, startled at the sudden appearance. 

“Should we take him back to base?” the kid asks, not looking away from Zuko. She stares at him for a while longer and nods. “Exactly my thoughts,” woah, wait, did Zuko miss out on an entire conversation? “C’mon kid. Can you climb down a tree?” she asks, her hand resting on her hip--no doubt where a dagger of some sort rested. 

He scowled. “Climb down a tree, of course I know how to climb down a tree! I wasn’t born yesterday. And stop calling me a kid, you don’t look any older than me.”

“Oh yeah?” said the kid who was already dropping from the branch, deftly making her way down the... _very_ high up tree. 

Agni, that was a long way down.

“W-well, how old are you then?” Zuko asks, leaning down to swing onto the closest branch beneath him. He grabs the branch and holds onto it for a second before following the other two kids’ examples.

“I’m twelve, if you must know. How old are you?” 

“...I’m twelve, too. We're the same age, so stop calling me kid!"

They’re all on the ground now, though Zuko is breathing a little heavier than the others, he notices with increasing frustration. _Well, I don’t go climbing trees every moment I have free._ His excuse is weak and he knows it. Instead of continuing to bicker with the other kids, he decides to try and pry. 

“So, where _are_ we going?”

Longshot glances at him briefly before he turns away, keeping a steady gait alongside Zuko and looking straight ahead. 

“I told you, we’re going to base,” the unnamed kid says to him, not turning to look at him. 

“No you didn’t.”

“Did too.”

“No, you _asked_ the other kid about whether or not you should kidnap me and take me to your ‘base’.”

“We’re not kidnapping you!” the kid says, turning to him with some wide eyes. Zuko mentally scoffs, but settles to just stare at her, deadpan. 

“We’re _not._ You just...you look starving and as if you haven’t washed in months.” Her tone is sympathetic but he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t _deserve_ it--

“You can come and eat, okay? Come and eat a meal, maybe stay the night some place safe, and then you can be on your way.” 

Zuko feels increasingly uncomfortable under the twin stares they both give him. He brings his arms up to hug himself before quickly dropping them; he can’t seem weak now. Not when they already believe him to be some helpless kid who can’t care for himself. His scar suddenly feels incredibly itchy and stiff, aching, and he wants to massage it, itch it, do _something_ to get their attention away from his failure. His reminder. His brand.

“Fine,” he grinds out, looking between the two. “I’ll come and eat, and maybe sleep, and then I’m leaving. I’m only doing this because there isn’t any apparent food around here.”

The younger kid grins mischievously, letting out a little bark of laughter. The--maybe--older one looks down at him with a weird look in his eyes that Zuko doesn’t really feel deciphering right now.

“What’s your name, anyways?” he asks, because he can’t keep calling her ‘kid’.

“Smellerbee, nice to meetcha.”

**Author's Note:**

> was it good? idk, u can tell me in the comments tho ;)


End file.
